The Columbian Exchange
Two Worlds Meet
The introduction of beasts of burden to the Americas was a significant
development from the Columbian Exchange. The introduction of the horse
provided people in the Americas with a new source of labor and transportation.
• Voyages launched large-scale contact between Europe and Americas.
• Interaction with Native Americans led to sweeping cultural changes.
• Contact between the two groups led to the widespread exchange of
plants, animals, and disease—the Columbian Exchange.
• Plants, animals developed in very
different ways in hemispheres
• Europeans—no potatoes, corn,
sweet potatoes, turkeys
• People in Americas—no coffee,
oranges, rice, wheat, sheep, cattle
The Exchange of Goods
The Columbian Exchange
• Arrival of Europeans in Americas
changed all this
• Previously unknown foods taken
back to Europe
• Familiar foods brought to Americas
by colonists
Sharing Discoveries
New plants to the “Old World”
• Potato
• Corn
• Tomato
• Sweet Potato
• Cacao (Cocoa)
• Pineapples
• Pumpkins
• Tobacco
**The Europeans loved the Tobacco
Notice Italy did NOT have tomatoes
until the Columbian Exchange.
“Old World” Diseases
• Smallpox
• Measles
• Diphteria
• Chicken Pox
• Bubonic Plague
• Influenza
• Cholera
• Malaria
*Infecting many Native Americans
Small pox-trunk of
victim
Bubonic Plague Victim
What the “New World” brought to
Europe
• Syphilis
• Hepatitis
• Polio
• Tuberculosis
Lung of victim:
Tuberculosis
Polio-deformed
legs
• Wealth measured by amount of gold, silver possessed by nation
• Mercantilists believed there was fixed amount of wealth in world
• For one nation to become wealthier, more powerful—had to take wealth, power away from another nation
• Mercantilism led to intense competition between nations
Intense Competition
• Founding of colonies, new goods in Europe led to significant changes
• 1500s, Europeans developed new economic policy, mercantilism
• Nation’s strength depended on its wealth
• Wealthy nation had power for military and expanded influence
New Economic Policy Mercantilism
Controlling Sources • Nation that controlled own sources would not
need to import from competing nations
• Why important
– Country did not need to spend own money to obtain raw materials
– Foreign countries considered rivals, might become
active enemy, cut off supply of raw materials
• European nations worked to become more self-sufficient
• Nations began to establish colonies
Cultural Diffusion
• The spread of ideas, customs, and
technologies from one people to another.
• Cultural diffusion occurs through
migration, trade and welfare.
Long Term Causes:
Immediate Causes:
Immediate Effects:
Long Term Effects:
Columbian
Exchange
Find the Main Idea
What were two lasting effects of the
Columbian Exchange?
Answer(s): possible answers—changes in
cuisine, changes in crops grown around the world,
epidemics
Immediate Causes:
•Europeans arrive in the Americas
•Europeans bring new plants, animals
and diseases to the Americas
Immediate Effects:
•Spanish conquer Aztecs and Incas
•Native Americans die of European diseases
•Enslaved Africans are brought to the
Americas
•American foods are introduced to other parts
of the world
Long Term Effects:
•Spread of products all around the world
•Population growth in Europe, Asia, and
Africa
•Cultural diffusion
•Migration from Europe to the Americas
•Growth of Capitalism
Long Term Causes:
•God
•Gold
•Glory
Columbian
Exchange
According to the diagram, the diet of western Europeans changed
because of—
(a )new technologies in food packaging
(b) the development of new breeds of livestock
(c) the use of the first food preservatives
(d) the introduction of new foods from the Americas